Major blow to PTI as Salman Akram, Hamid Raza quit key positions

The embattled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) suffered a significant blow as two prominent figures, Salman Akram Raja and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza, stepped down from key positions amid reports of internal rifts within the party leadership

The resignations from the senior PTI leaders came after the abrupt “postponement” of the Imran Khan-founded party’s much-hyped “do-or-die” protest in Islamabad in the wee hours of Wednesday following a crackdown by the law enforces with nearly 1,000 supporters being arrested.

Sources told Geo News that the SIC chief had also decided to quit his national Assembly’s membership and he would formally submit his resignation after meeting incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan.

Senior PTI leader Raoof Hasan, speaking on the Geo News programme “Capital Talk” on Thursday, confirmed the development and said that the party’s political committee would discuss Raja and Raza’s resignation to take a final decision.

He detailed that the PTI secretary general had not mentioned any reasons for his resignation; however, he would continue to serve the former ruling party as the head of its legal committee.

Hasan added that despite his resignation, Raja still had an “overwhelming support” from the party leaders.

The SIC chairman, in a detailed post on X earlier today, announced quitting the PTI’s political and core committees, clarifying that it would not mean parting ways with the Imran Khan-founded party.

He categorically said that the SIC’s alliance with the former ruling party would continue and he resigned from the said committee “to stay out of internal conflicts of the PTI”.

Regardless the PTI founder accepts or rejects his resignation, Raza vowed to stand firmly with the former premier.

Hasan, in today’s show, however expressed hope that Raza would also withdraw his resignation.

Responding to a query related to a “ban on PTI”, Hasan said that banning the former ruling party from politics was not piece of cake.

He was referring to the resolution passed by the Balochistan Assembly earlier today, seeking a ban on the PTI following the recent “violence” in its three-day-long protest.

Minister for Communications and Works Mir Saleem Ahmad Khosa, along with provincial ministers Mir Sadiq Umrani, Mir Asim Kurd Gelo, Raheela Hamid Khan Durrani, Bakht Mohammad Kakar, and parliamentary secretaries tabled the joint resolution in the assembly on the protests and violent actions of PTI.

The opposition, however, staged a walkout, protesting against the mistreatment of the former ruling party.

Hasan, who heads the PTI’s policy think tank, said that his party would take a legal action in case of any move to ban the political party.

The politician urged the federal government to resolve political disputes via dialogue which was also backed by the PTI founder a few days ago.

PTI leadership adding to Khan’s hardships: Yousafzai

Earlier today, PTI leader and former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa minister Shaukat Yousafzai blasted the party leadership over mismanagement of the Islamabad march, saying that due to the party leadership’s blunders, hardships of Khan were mounting.

“All the responsibility (for this) lied on the central leadership,” the PTI leader said in a statement.

Yousafzai said that God gave them a great opportunity which they wasted. If they had proceeded with consultation among themselves, the results would have been different today, he added.

To a query, he replied that Bushra Bibi was right to take to the streets in a bid to get her husband released from jail. “The question arises, what did the rest of the leadership do? Where was the central leadership?” he asked.

It should be noted that earlier Yousafzai had questioned the leadership of Barrister Gohar Khan and Salman Akram Raja as well.

He also asked where Sher Afzal Marwat and leadership of Punjab were during the protest.

In a statement quoted by The News on Thursday, Yousafzai expressed his frustration, stating: “Gandapur has been made a scapegoat. [Imran] Khan had agreed to Sangjani, but Bushra’s [Bibi] insistence on D-Chowk cost the party heavily.”

“Will the party be led by Bushra Bibi or the leadership? If the leadership lacks authority, they should resign. The D-Chowk incident was deeply regrettable,” he stated.

The party’s leadership, particularly PTI founder Khan’s wife Bushra and CM Gandapur, are facing strong criticism for their decision to push forward with the protest at D-Chowk despite Khan’s agreement to hold a rally at Sangjani.